Festive Rivalries
by Darkfire Galaxy
Summary: When a surprise visit from the headteacher of Barron's Mill sees Bradlington dragged into another competition against their rival school, Maddy and Rhydian are dragged into the thick of it. Can they defeat Barron's Mill and do their school proud?


Wolfblood

Festive Rivalries

It was just disgusting. The words immoral and wrong didn't even begin to cover it. How anything remotely this depraved could be conceived went far beyond them. They'd reasoned that surely even Jefferies couldn't sink that low. But he had. He'd committed a mortal sin that went against every human belief. It hadn't been their fault! They'd been huddling up in the darkroom and lost track of time. They were two minutes late. It shouldn't have been enough to warrant detention and certainly not when they were just into December!

"This is bullcrap!" Maddy muttered.

"You're telling me." Rhydian grimaced. His leg twitched as though it wanted to wrap around hers, and he looked longingly at her over the two tables that separated them.

"Well you should have been on time, shouldn't you?" Jefferies interjected from his desk. "And it might have helped if you'd just been honest instead of trying to sneak into the lesson. And Rhydian, you might as well wear a bell for all the good you are at stealth. Treading on the back of Maddy's foot and making her cry out like that wasn't the best idea. Of course, due to the fact that I have eyes in the back of my head I actually noticed you some time ago. I was just hoping you wouldn't blow your cover to the degree that I had to punish you when I'd rather be at home prepping for Christmas."

'_Don't say it_!' Maddy mentally urged him. '_Please don't say it_!'

"Not a lot gets past me in this school." Jefferies took a second to grin at his own brilliance.

'_Damn you_!" Maddy thought. She was debating just leaping over the desk, knocking Jefferies out and officially declaring detention over when the door opened and an old man stepped into the room. He wasn't anyone Maddy had seen before, and a quick glance at Rhydian told her he didn't know him either. Subtly, she checked the air for the man's scent. He was human.

"One day you're going to do that and find out they've farted." Rhydian whispered too quietly for either Jefferies or the old man to hear. Maddy swore she'd get revenge on him later.

"Ah, hello there Tim." The old man reached out and shook Jefferies' hand. "I was just wondering if the head was anywhere about, but her secretary seems most uncooperative."

"Yes, she's not much good." Jefferies sighed. "I'm afraid she's not. She had to leave at the same time as the students today due to family reasons."

"Right, well I shan't stay very long then." The man's moustache quivered as he spoke. He pulled up a chair and sat down, smoothing out his military-neat blazer as he did so. "Yes, I just wanted to congratulate her on the students' performance in that rematch game two weeks ago. Exemplary."

"Thank you, sir." Jefferies grinned from ear to ear as the old man looked over his shoulder at Maddy and Rhydian.

"And who are these two?" he asked. "A little late for lessons, isn't it?" He laughed at his own joke which died in the air. Maddy and Rhydian looked at each other, unsure whether they should speak or let Jefferies introduce them. A second later, that question was answered for them.

"This is Maddy and Rhydian." Jefferies gestured to each of them in turn as he spoke. "They're unfortunately in detention right now for being late to the lesson. Kids, this is Arthur Fraser. He's the headmaster over at Barron's Mill High."

"Yes, it's not as grand as it sounds." Arthur shrugged. "I have to fill out paperwork just the same as everyone else. "Still, I'm quite proud of my lot today." He turned back to Jefferies and resumed talking. "We only had two lunchtime detentions and not one single afterschool detention. No blue tickets or debits through the entire day and no independent thought alarms going off in my office. Removing the coloured markers from the classrooms seems to have put a stop to all that nonsense."

"What's wrong with letting them have independence?" Jefferies asked, confused. "Maddy and Rhydian are here because what they did was irresponsible, but we're trying to raise these kids to be the stronger next generation not a troop of mindless drones."

"Well, they learn so much quicker when they don't ask questions." Arthur shrugged. "And the ones that can't keep up will be forced to find their own way of keeping pace or be left behind. Regimented learning like that promotes ingenuity."

"I'm pretty sure thinking like that went out the window in the late 1900s." Jefferies shot Arthur a perplexed look. "With thinking like that, it's little wonder your football team lost two in a row to us."

"Dammit Jefferies, you will prove that or apologise!" Arthur angrily slammed his fist on the desk, unable to hide the eye twitch as Maddy and Rhydian heard the soft crack of a bone breaking.

"Well, I certainly won't apologise." Jefferies folded his arms resolutely. "And we can't prove it until the school county cup next year."

"We don't have to wait for that." Rhydian piped up. Jefferies and Arthur turned to look at him. "Liam's dad is building that paintballing course on the edge of his land. There's open ground for miles behind that. And I'm sure if we can get him to host it, he can think up some initiative tests or something.

"Damn good idea! I accept." Arthur tried to hide the fact he was cradling his wrist in his blazer sleeve. "How about you, Jefferies? Are you going to accept or are you backing down?"

"Well, It's not actually my place to accept." Jefferies shrugged, sitting back. "I'm not the head. I don't speak for the school. If she accepts, I'll get the minibus and drive our group there personally. Speaking of, if she does accept then who are we actually putting in for this?"

"Yes, well I've just been thinking about that." Arthur nodded. "You see, I have only one condition to make. And that is that every man who was in that football match a fortnight ago takes part in the event. No more, no less."

"That sounds fair to me." Jefferies replied after a moment's consideration. Rhydian let out a sigh of frustration and leaned back in his seat, running his hands through his hair.

"They made me be the goalie for the rematch, didn't they." Maddy instantly felt a twinge of regret. Now Rhydian was being dragged into something he didn't want to be a part of for a third time.

"Sorry, Rhydian. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about that." Jefferies shrugged. "You were in that match, so therefore you have to be in this event."

"Sir, we haven't even set a date yet." Rhydian countered. "What if I have a social services meeting that clashes with it?"

"I'll have the head confer with Mrs Vaughan." Jefferies assured him. "We'll work around it, I assure you." Suddenly, an idea entered Maddy's head. If Rhydian couldn't get out of the event, perhaps she could get _into_ it.

"In that case sir, can I be an umpire?" she asked. "I have friends in Barron's Mill too, so I'm not going to be biased. Tom's going to be competing too, so Shannon and Jana will probably want in. That's three umpires and two teams. We can easily police this thing. My mum's also really into crafts right now. I'm sure she could make flags for each team."

"Three unbiased umpires and flags. I like it!" Arthur nodded vigorously. "Well, I'm going home now. I'll ring the head myself and put the challenge to her. I suppose I'll see you on the battlefield then." With that, he strode confidently from the room. Maddy and Rhydian sat back down, looking to Jefferies for his order to continue with their essays. As it was, he was furious at Arthur's mentality and at Maddy and Rhydian for encouraging the competition.

"Oh, just clear off! The pair of you! Out you go!"

One Week Later...

The minibus was alive with talk as Jefferies drove. The head sat next to him with the map. Maddy, Rhydian and Jana could hear the tyres struggling to get a purchase on the ground. It wasn't a vehicle designed to go off-roading.

"Sir, would it not be better to get out and walk or find a road?" Jana suggested. "What if we sink?"

"We won't sink." Jefferies assured her as the bus suddenly dropped eighteen inches and the wheels stopped turning.

"Right." The head stepped up and stood in the centre of the isle. "While Mr Jefferies digs us out..." she shot a pointed look at Jefferies who got up and went to the door. "... I'll be briefing you on the competition today. Now, it will consist of three initiative tests separated by brief travel periods and also general performance courses set up by Mr Hunter, who also happens to be officiating the event."

"What tests are we going to face, miss?" Jimi asked, putting his hand up. Maddy had to suppress an eye-roll as she sat back, tempted to go to sleep.

"Naturally, we don't know what form the tests might take." The head fought to maintain her patience, desperately praying that nothing else was going to go wrong. "If we knew that, we wouldn't be able to use our initiative. Now what I _do_ know is that we'll begin with Mr Hunter waving a starting flag and travel to the first test which is marked out. Maddy, Shannon and Jana will be taking a separate transports driven by Mr and Mrs Hunter and they'll be making sure both teams follow the rules. Once we get to the marker, we'll have two initiative tests separated by a short walk and then an assault course leading to the third one. Once we've had all three, we'll head over to the paintball target range and each person here will keep firing until they've hit five targets. Once that's done, we'll run over to the flagpole and run their flag to the top. The flags, I hasten to add, that Maddy's own mother has most kindly made for us."

"By the way, it came to a fiver." Maddy piped up from where she was cuddled up with Rhydian trying to keep warm.

"Done." The head gave a reassuring nod before turning back to the group and carrying on.

"A fiver?" Rhydian queried, keeping his voice low. "I thought she said twenty-five to Barron's Mill."

"Mates rates." Maddy replied simply before making herself comfortable again. Rhydian struggled to suppress a laugh.

"Unbiased my arse!" Maddy looked up at him, her face a picture of seriousness.

"If you win this for Bradlington, we're celebrating later. Okay?"

"Right." Rhydian nodded, guessing what was coming. "And even if I don't, is that celebration still on the table?"

"Probably, yes." Maddy nodded. Rhydian let out a sigh and hugged her closer, patting her on the top of the head in a way he knew she hated.

"Alright. Good talk, coach. Thanks." Maddy let out a soft growl which Rhydian diligently ignored.

"I think I've got it!" Jefferies jumped onto the bus plastered in mud from head to foot. He got into the seat and started the engine before easing the bus out of the ditch it had previously dug itself into. The other students clapped and cheered as the wheels finally came free and they were on the road again.

"I'm going to have to apologise for the damage." The head rubbed her brow furiously as the realisation set in.

"Don't worry, miss." Liam said from his seat next to Sam. "This stretch of country road isn't my dad's property. That means it's the council that has to come and fix it." The head heaved a sigh of relief at the news.

"The air's got teeth." Jana said to no one in particular. "You can tell winter's here."

"Well, it's December thirteenth." Maddy reasoned as they pulled up on a makeshift start line that had been mostly washed away by frost and dew. "If you need extra layers, I've packed a spare scarf and stuff."

"Thanks." Jana nodded gratefully. Everyone got off the bus and went to stand in front of Mr Hunter and his wife, the Barron's Mill team already lined up and waiting for them. Maddy noticed My Hunter was in his combat gear and holding a massive flag. She'd expected a starting pistol or something, but clearly that wasn't going to be the case. Something nagged at her though. She couldn't escape the feeling that it was a bad idea.

"Right then: Maddy, Shannon and Jaina, you're all with us." He looked over a scrap of paper in his hand as he spoke.

"Um, sir? It's pronounced Jana." Jana corrected him.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that." He looked at the paper again. "God, this writing is _terrible_! Who the hell wrote this?" All eyes instantly looked to Liam.

"Look, I hairline fractured my wrist when I fell down the hole at Aern Hollow." Liam protested. "I haven't got the movement in it I once had."

"Alright, everyone get back on the bus." Mrs Hunter ordered. "Maddy, you're with me. Shannon and Jana, you're with my husband." The girls all went to stand by their respective couriers as the boys all got back on the bus. Mr Hunter pointed Shannon and Jana to a mini ATV of some kind that looked barely big enough for three. They went and stood by it while he went to start the race.

"Get ready to lose." Arthur said menacingly to them, trying to conceal the wrist brace strapped to his arm. With that, he got on the bus and took the driver's seat. Jefferies and the head got back on too, taking up their positions. As soon as Mr Hunter waved his flag, the race began. Both minibuses powered off the start line to the tune of a god-almighty tearing of fabric. The Barron's Mill bus had run over the flag, their tyre dragging the material with it. The only thing left in Mr Hunter's hands was a pole with a tattered scrap of cloth on the end.

"Look at the state of that!" he seethed as he took in the damage. "Two-hundred that cost me at the paintball equipment shop!"

"Come _on_!" Shannon and Jana urged him as Maddy and Mrs Hunter pulled away on the quad bike, easily keeping pace with the buses. Maddy was loving the feeling of the wind in her hair, but knew she had to keep focused on the Barron's Mill bus. She knew that Shannon and Jana had the Bradlington bus covered, so there was nothing to worry about there.

Suddenly, there became _plenty_ to worry about. On a corner, the Barron's Mill bus swerved dangerously. It clipped the Bradlington High bus with a heavy thump, leaving a dent in the side. Maddy knew she had to put a stop to that. There was no way she could let anything happen to that bus. Not with Rhydian on it, anyway. Fortunately, Mrs Hunter seemed to have had the same idea and began to pull in front of it, waving a red piece of cloth as a flag for them to stop. They did, and Maddy skilfully dismounted before the quad bike had even stopped thanks to her wolf agility. She stormed over as Arthur got out, utterly seeing red.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded. "You hit our bus, endangered the lives of everyone on it and put your own students at risk too! It's not actually a race at this point. Both teams will start the initiative tests together. _That's_ when the race truly starts. If I see any more of _that_, I'm calling the whole thing off!"

"I skidded in the mud!" Arthur protested. "This isn't fair!"

"We're not interested in that." Mrs Hunter said, walking over with just as much venom in her glare as Maddy. "What we're saying is we don't want to see it again. Now, get back on board and take it _carefully_ to the marker. We need everyone alive for the tests." Without a word, Arthur got back onto the bus and carried on driving. Maddy kept a _very_ close eye on him all the way to the marker point.

When everyone pulled up and the Bradlington team had stopped Jefferies from trying to kill Arthur, everyone got into place. Mr and Mrs Hunter took the teams in different directions before standing in the middle and speaking to both of them.

"Okay, everybody pay attention!" Mr Hunter's powerful voice carried across the group over the wind which had suddenly risen. "Right! If each team looks past us, they'll see their head teachers holding onto enough balloons to carry them off like the house from Up. On the sound of my horn, they'll release the balloons." He held up an air horn to show everyone what to expect. "Now hidden in the bushes all around here there are some implements you can use to burst the balloons. There's nothing too sharp here but if you're irresponsible you could still be badly hurt."

"We are trusting all of you with this." Mrs Hunter added. "_Don't_ abuse it!" With that, Mr Hunter sounded the air horn. The head teachers released the balloons and the game began. Maddy watched as the boys from Barron's Mill started hunting around for the weapons that had been promised to them. Some of the Bradlington team were following suit, but some of them also realised they had things on them that could work as well. As they hadn't known what to expect, each team had been allowed to wear non-uniform to avoid messing up their school clothes and to allow them to be more versatile. Some of the Bradlington boys were pulling out their house keys or any keychains with sharp edges. One even had a Warhammer 40K badge that was especially effective when he opened the safety pin on the back. They set to work popping balloons and were doing a good job. But Barron's Mill were closing the gap. One of the boys had found a sharp piece of flint. It wasn't on the list of items Maddy had seen, but it was working a treat. Others had taken to picking the balloons up and bear-hugging them to make them pop.

"We've finished!" Jimi cheered. Maddy saw him going to race on only for Jana to get in his way.

"You can't leave yet." She stood firm, not letting him pass. "What about that one?" She pointed up at a single balloon that had been carried off on the wind.

"We're done here." The team leader for Barron's Mill said as he dropped the piece of flint before he and the others trooped off to start the walk to the next marker. Maddy knew the Bradlington team needed to hurry up, but she also knew she was powerless to lend a hand.

"Hurry up, guys!" she called. "Barron's Mill have finished!" Unfortunately, Jana and Shannon had to play fairly too.

"You can't leave until you've got that one." Jana said resolutely. The balloon had held a decent height, but wasn't so high it was impossible. The pace it was moving at would prove tricky, though.

"Leek boy, pull some magic out of your arse!" Jimi ordered. Rhydian wanted to turn around and kick him, but he knew now wasn't the time. Instead, he ran over to Maddy, grabbed the piece of flint dropped by the Barron's Mill team, quickly kissed her on the lips and then ran back over. She watched fascinated as he crouched down for a few seconds before getting back up and running after it. He pulled his arm back and launched the flint with superhuman strength. It was a clean hit, bursting the balloon in the air. The boys all erupted into cheers and Maddy was reminded of her analogy that she'd made about three lifetimes ago where she'd compared him using Eolas to a nature film.

"Come on, let's move!" Jimi beckoned all the others to follow him as he raced off after Barron's Mill. Everyone joined him along with Maddy and Jana while Shannon got a lift on the quad bike with Mrs Hunter. Maddy and Jana were able to speed across the overgrown forest-like area like they were born to do it, jumping over vines and logs while ducking under low branches and fallen trees that had propped themselves against the trunks of their neighbours. Maddy and Jana easily arrived ahead of the Bradlington High team, reaching the second test just as the Barron's Mill boys were making a start.

"Right, what are they doing?" Maddy asked Mr Hunter as she ran over.

"How are you not even out of breath?" he asked, perplexed. He decided to shrug it off and carry on. "Right, well we've got some tanks over there full of ball pit balls that I've covered in soap solution. They've got to get all those balls out of that tank and into the other containers. Every ball that hits the ground gives their team a five second penalty and they have to stay here for that total extra time. All you have to do is check that container is empty and that they haven't hidden any balls."

"Got it." Maddy nodded. She jogged over and started to keep an eye on the Barron's Mill group as Mrs Hunter briefed the Bradlington team. Once she'd finished, they charged in and started grabbing the plastic balls like they were children in a ball pit all over again. That was when Maddy noticed Liam having an idea. He started to pick up the plastic buckets and bring them over to the balls, filling them up at the container before carrying them back to their original positions. The others saw what he was doing and joined in. It was going well until Sam tripped, spilling an entire bucket of balls onto the ground. The others all shot him murderous glares, but Rhydian simply picked the bucket up, refilled it and took it back properly.

"If you think you're coming for pizza with us if we win this, you've got another thing coming." Jimi whispered furiously to Sam, unaware that Maddy, Rhydian and Jana could hear every word. He got up as Mr Hunter came over to inspect the damage.

"Bad news, lads." He got up once he'd finished counting and turned to face them. "You've got five minutes and twenty seconds in the penalty box." Maddy looked over at the Barron's Mill boys and instantly knew it wouldn't matter. They hadn't seen what Liam had done. They were still too focused on carrying the balls by hand. They were dropping them everywhere even when they just tried carrying two at a time. Even with the penalty, Bradlington High would win by miles at this rate.

Evidently realising the same thing, they all went over and sat in the penalty box, most of the Bradlington team with smiles on their faces despite the fact that they were now forced to waste time. As bad as that was though, it was nothing compared to the Barron's Mill group. Eventually, they sat back defeated. The big container was empty and most of the balls were all over the floor. Mr Hunter came over to work out their score, knowing instantly that it would take him a _very_ long time.

"When the Bradlington team were allowed to move again, they all headed towards the assault course. They'd never been so laid back in doing anything like this in their lives, even managing to work together as a team to navigate it. Once they were all over, they headed to the third test. Maddy watched them go while Barron's Mill sat in the penalty box all seething.

"You can get after them if you want." Mrs Hunter said, heading over. "I can keep an eye on this lot. They'll be here for another twenty minutes at least." Maddy nodded and ran on. She arrived at the third test to find the Bradlington team being briefed. The objective was to get across the irrigation ditch by balancing on a piece of industrial pipe laid across it to pour water from a bucket into a plastic bin that was painted to look like a tiger. The whole point was to give the tiger a drink, so if they fell off then they weren't allowed to refill with water from the ditch, but had to go all the way back and get more water from the trough.

The first two tries saw Jimi and Liam falling off the pipe and landing heavily in the trench. The water had partially iced over, making the landing even harder. They crawled out stinking to high heaven and shivering, their buckets having emptied in the fall. Jimi looked tempted to try and refill his from the ditch, but knew he'd be caught for it. He climbed out and refilled as an idea formed in Rhydian's mind.

"Sam, give me your bucket!" he ordered. Sam handed it over and Rhydian climbed onto the pipe. He used the weight of both buckets to balance evenly and made his way across before pouring their contents into the tiger's mouth. Once he'd done that, he pulled up the pipe and placed the end of it into the bin. Seeing what he was doing, everyone poured their water down the end of the pipe. By the end of it, the bin was overflowing.

"And _that_ is why I love that boy." Maddy said as Shannon came to stand beside her. As they watched, Mr Hunter came over to inspect their efforts.

"Well, you've certainly given it a drink." He remarked. "In fact, I think the future of tigers is definitely in question seeing as you've basically drowned this one. Your next stop is the target range. Just keep shooting until you hit five of them. Maddy is going to judge hits. You fire one at a time and then your head will meet you at the flag pole for you to fly your flag."

The boys all ran on, Maddy effortlessly keeping pace. They arrived at the firing range and Jimi picked up the paint rifle. Sam went for the second one, but Maddy stopped him.

"No, that one's for Barron's Mill. If they catch up they've got to be able to shoot at the same time as you, otherwise it's not a fair contest."

"Fine." Sam dropped the paint gun disdainfully and queued up behind Jimi. Jimi, Sam and Liam had clearly been putting in practise, nailing five targets easily. Jimi and Liam were dead on and Sam only missed once. Everyone else went next with varying degrees of success. Just as Rhydian was finishing up, the Barron's Mill boys came running over and their captain grabbed the other paint gun.

"Where the hell did they come from?" Jimi wondered. "They should still be struggling with the tiger challenge by now!" Suddenly, a realisation popped into Tom's head.

"We never put the pipe back! They must have seen what we did and copied it!" As he spoke, the Barron's Mill captain pulled off five shots, easily hitting every single one. He passed it to their goalie who did the same before passing it to the next person. Clearly, the entire team had been putting in practice.

"Are you kidding me? _Run_!" Jimi yelled, darting for the flagpole. The others all followed as the Barron's Mill team continued making short work of the firing range. They arrived and the head moved over and handed them the flag as Liam started fumbling with the rope on the pole.

"Do you know how to do that, mate?" Tom asked with concern as Arthur watched worriedly while his team kept firing. Despite their pace, they were nowhere near done.

"Yeah, there should be a loop that connects to the flag and then we use the pulley system to hoist it." Liam explained. "I should know, I put this pole up with Dad."

"Come here, let me see!" Jimi shouldered forwards. He tugged on the rope which suddenly went much more slack in his hands before finding the loop and offering it to Liam.

"No, you spanner!" Liam yelled, snatching the loop from him. "That loop goes in the pulley at the end! Now no one can get their flag up!"

"Give it here!" Rhydian grabbed the rope and jumped onto the flag pole. He started climbing while Jefferies and the head protested furiously down below. Maddy could see he was using his wolf while using the fact he was looking up to hide his yellow eyes. The freezing winter air was blasting past him as he went higher still, his weight causing the pole to sway in the wind. Once he reached the top, it took him a second to re-thread the flagpole. Cheers erupted from the bottom as he finished up and went to climb back down. As he did, a gust of wind hit hard, de-stabilising him. He fell, grabbing the supporting wire by mistake and crying out as it lacerated his hand. The team clamoured around the bottom and managed to catch him before he hit the ground. Maddy and Shannon ran over, Maddy kneeling by Rhydian's head and shaking with worry while Shannon inspected the damage.

"It's deep, but it's not major." She got up, shaking her head. "It might need stitches, but it missed anything important."

"You arsehole!" Maddy punched him on the shoulder as tears streamed down her face. "Don't ever scare me like that again!"

"No promises." As he spoke, a metallic squeaking noise caused them to look up and see the Barron's Mill team hoisting the flag up the flagpole. Everyone had been so busy tending to Rhydian that they'd totally forgotten to hoist the flag!

"That's cheating, Arthur!" Jefferies snapped furiously. "We were here first and dealing with a potential emergency!"

"Yes, and whatever the reason you didn't get your flag up, did you?" Arthur smirked, his arms folded pompously. "It's the flag that counts, Tim. We settled on that very early on in the planning."

"That planning didn't account for an emergency!" Jefferies protested. "A student could have _died_ just then!"

"Well you didn't force him up there, did you?" Arthur countered. Maddy looked over to see Jana and the Hunters watching in stunned silence as the situation quickly deteriorated. But they weren't looking at Jefferies arguing with Arthur. They were looking up at the flagpole. And unlike them, she didn't have to look up to know what had happened. Rhydian had obviously noticed the same thing and chose that moment to speak up.

"It's not _your_ flag you've hoisted though, is it?" He sat up and pointed to the Bradlington High logo emblazoned on the flag. Arthur looked up and paled in the face. Tom got ready to catch him in case he started going over.

"What?" He rounded on the captain. "You idiot! You flew the wrong flag!"

"I flew what _you_ gave me, sir!" he protested. Tom fumbled around, picking the discarded flag up, still tied up in the bundle.

"They must have got switched in the crush." He offered it back only for the captain to storm off with a face like thunder.

"So what's the meaning of this?" Arthur looked around confused. Jana walked over to stand by Maddy and Shannon, resting a hand on Maddy's shoulder as she helped Rhydian get up.

"It means you've lost, sir." She stared him down, her tone brooking no argument. "Bradlington wins it by default if nothing else." Arthur backed off, trying to salvage his dignity.

"Well, it won't be happening in the rematch next year!" he declared. "And I expect to see you in the schools' county cup next year as well." With that, he and the Barron's Mill team headed off. Jefferies relaxed as did everyone else. Just then, Jimi noticed the flag still in Tom's hands.

"They forgot their flag! Let's run it up the flagpole under ours to show them they're beneath us." He went to take it, but Maddy hurriedly went to stop him.

"I wouldn't to that if I were you!" She tried to tug it back only for the string to snap and unroll the flag. Instantly, everyone stopped and stared, unable to believe what they were seeing.

"Hold on a minute..." Jefferies picked up the flag and opened it out properly, taking in the Bradlington High logo on it. "That's _our_ flag." He looked up at the flagpole, the flag on it still flying proudly. "And _that's_ our flag!" Suddenly, everyone saw the pieces click together in his brain. "Maddy, would you care to explain this?" His glare was trained on her like a laser.

"Ah, yeah..." Maddy scuffed her feet awkwardly, her breath coming out in clouds in the freezing air. "Well Mum made a flag for us but she totally botched it and I could hear her shouting and swearing at it. She wasn't satisfied so she made another one. While I was packing, I must have... Oh. Oh, that's not good." Jefferies continued glaring at her, his gaze not budging an inch.

"Maddy, I give that a two out of ten as excuses go."

"I thought it would be something like that." Maddy muttered. Rhydian was trying desperately hard not to laugh. It was a losing battle.

"Now, you all know that I don't approve of this sort of thing." The head stepped forward to address the group. "And I want you to know that if anyone _else_ was party to this..." she shot a venomous glance at Shannon, Jana, Tom and Rhydian, "...then I don't want to know. What I want _you_ to know though is that I'm extremely displeased by this and I will be keeping a close eye on you from here on out. We will _not_ have this go down in our hall of fame and we will say no more about it from this point." She let out a sigh and dropped the spare flag. "On the other hand though, I'm glad we won this time. He was getting intolerable. We're going for victory pizza. I'm buying."

Epilogue

Christmas Eve...

"Maddy, your wounded soldier is here!" Maddy sat up as Emma's voice rang up the stairs. Ever since Emma, Dan and Mrs Vaughan had all been called to A&E because Rhydian's hand had been bleeding too badly to eat pizza and they'd found Maddy holding Rhydian's other hand while the doctor stitched the wound shut, the teasing had been unrelenting. Rhydian was looking forward to the full moon when it healed him in an instant. Unfortunately, the full moon for December had been on the day before the challenge. The no moon day had been the easiest he'd experienced yet, though; with Mrs Vaughan having insisted he stay in bed anyway.

Maddy headed downstairs and saw Rhydian taking off his rucksack and hanging it up. He tried to hide a cringe of pain as the bag weighed heavily on his hand.

"Is that still giving you trouble?" she asked as she neared him. "It should have healed by now."

"I think it's to do with how deep it was." Rhydian replied as he looked at the red mark that was left running across the side of his hand. "I don't smell any infection, so I think it's part of the recovery. Mind you: I've seen humans go down for months over less." Maddy rolled her eyes and grabbed his good hand before dragging him upstairs.

"Supper's going to be half an hour!" Emma called after them. Maddy chose to ignore that as she flung her door open and ushered him inside before shutting it and throwing her arms around him. She leaned in and kissed him as he spun her round, allowing her to lie back on the bed.

"You know, we haven't been able to really get together since you injured yourself." Maddy said, looking up at him with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Mrs Vaughan wouldn't let me leave the house." Rhydian shrugged. "She wanted me where she could see me. I'm just glad the hospital didn't decide to run a blood test. If I could have gone anywhere else, I would. Tom's mum is scary as hell." Maddy burst out laughing.

"I know!" She took a second to compose herself. "That nurse's hands were shaking the whole time she was working while Dr Okinawa watched her like the world's most judgemental vulture." That was it. The pair of them were lost in the throes of laughter. Eventually, they calmed down. Rhydian looked over to find out Maddy was gazing at him. She reached out to him, pulling herself closer and cuddling in. "I never got to celebrate you winning the contest for Bradlington."

"Maddy, there technically _was_ no contest thanks to you." Rhydian reminded her. The grin spread across her face again.

"Quit complaining. You'll still be celebrating your victory after supper." She tried to pull herself closer, loving how warm he was. Christmas for her was now so much more than just a day when she unwrapped presents. She never cared what he got her now provided he was there. Deep down, she knew he felt the same way.

"Merry Christmas, Maddy." Maddy couldn't help the heat that flushed through her cheeks as his arms encircled her.

"Merry Christmas, Rhydian." They leaned in and rested their foreheads together. In that moment, it was like they could read each other's minds. As if on cue, their stomachs growled in unison.

"Kids, supper!" Both of them jumped up at the sound of Emma's voice. Both of them desperately hoped there wouldn't be a rematch next year as Arthur had promised. For now, they were just content to enjoy Christmas and cross that bridge when the time came. If Barron's Mill started getting competitive next year, they were sure they could handle any festive rivalries that might present themselves.

End!

**Author's Note: Merry Christmas, everybody! Christmas has always been a special time for me and while the run-up to it hasn't been the easiest it's ever been this year, it's not going to stop me uploading a story for December. This has been much more of a comedy story than I've been writing lately and it reminds me that I've really missed writing humour-oriented stories. **

**Now, I understand that I've also got a story in progress and that I promised to try and update it weekly, unfortunately family affairs going on have rendered that impossible. For now, I'm going to take the rest of the year off and come back with a vengeance in 2020. Shout out to Always A Dragon who has been a big supporter of Fangs of the Forgotten. I will be uploading the last few chapters of it in the first weeks of January and I've already started on the sequel. Answers will be given, I promise. And some big reveals are coming in the next two chapters at least. **

**To everyone else, thank you so much for being there throughout 2019. It's been a difficult year for me, but you guys who support me have been amazing. Have a great Christmas and new year and I'll see you in 2020.**


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